Somewhere Along the Highway
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| Somewhere Along the Highway | ||
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| Studio album by Cult of Luna | ||
| Released | April 24, 2006 | |
| Recorded | Late 2005 | |
| Genre | Post-metal | |
| Length | 64:41 | |
| Label | Earache Records | |
| Producer(s) | Cult of Luna | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Cult of Luna chronology | ||
| Salvation (2004) |
Somewhere Along the Highway (2006) |
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Somewhere Along the Highway is the fourth full-length album by Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna, released on April 24, 2006 on Earache Records.
In August 2006, the band released a remake of "Marching To the Heartbeats" from Somewhere Along the Highway entitled "Heartbeats" solely on the internet community MySpace. The song was available for download for a few days and was later removed. The point was to see if the song would be "kept alive" by file sharing, and was also apparently a statement against the conservative music industry, says drummer Anders Teglund in an interview.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Recording
To achieve the sound, the album's initial tracking took place over seven days in an octagonal, wooden barn surrounded by what the band described as "Blair Witch" scenery close to the band's hometown of Umeå in northern Sweden.[2] According to Magnus Lindberg, the band's drummer, the remote location coupled with the spotting of "Wicca witch women dancing in the woods" and the actual acoustics of the barn itself all contributed towards creating the perfect ambience to lay down the basic tracks which were done primarily live, as a unit.[2] It has "a less polished sound - not as produced as Salvation - definitively a more rough sound." They had a relatively low budget and little time to record the album in comparison with the highly polished Salvation.[3]
[edit] Theme
Cult of Luna albums tend to focus on a theme; guitarist Erik Oloffson states in an interview that this release focuses on "Male loneliness - [he] was very inspired by a book by J.M. Coetzee [Life & Times of Michael K] about a man in South Africa with a hare lip. [The character] escapes from everything and lives off the earth eating only pumpkins. Johannes [Persson] had similar ideas for the lyrics about loneliness, it all has a kind of countryside vibe to it."[3] This is a step away from the overarching concerns of previous albums; previous works have been macroscopic, existentialist, vitriolically political statements. In relation to previous themes, male loneliness is a highly personal subject.
[edit] Reception
To an extent, it discontinues the stylistic progression of the band thus far. The original eponymous release was by far the most aggressive the band ever put out. With The Beyond, they toned the dischordance down, slowing tempos and dropping the sound even lower than before. The critically acclaimed Salvation was their most serene album so far; bearing in mind 'serene' for Cult of Luna is still fairly heavy metal. Somewhere Along the Highway is heavier than Salvation in most respects; it is not a continuation of the pattern, but in terms of composition and expression of emotion, many consider it superlative.[3] Continuing the trend begun with Salvation, it has lost almost all semblances of doom, and is decidedly a post-metal release, replete with calm passages, climaxes and light-dark interplay; as one reviewer notes, the acoustic sections "bring to mind the serene moments heard on Mogwai albums".[4] "Dim" and "Dark City, Dead Man" are considered by many as stand-out tracks.[5][6]
[edit] Track listing
- "Marching To The Heartbeats" – 3:13
- "Finland" – 10:46
- "Back To Chapel Town" – 7:09
- "And With Her Came The Birds" – 5:58
- "Thirtyfour" – 10:00
- "Dim" – 11:46
- "Dark City, Dead Man" – 15:49
[edit] Personnel
- Martin Gustafson — Backing vocals on "Marching to the Heartbeats"
- Thomas Hedlund — Drums and percussion
- Pelle Henricsson — Mastering
- Andreas Johansson — Bass
- Fredrik Kihlberg — Guitar and vocals
- Magnus Lindberg — Drums, recording and mixing
- Erik Olofsson — Guitar
- Johannes Persson — Guitar, vocals and lyrics
- Klas Rydberg — Vocals
- David Sundqvist — Intro loop on "Dim" and programmed drums on "Dark City, Dead Man"
- Anders Teglund — Keyboards and electronics
[edit] References
- ^ Cult of Luna testar gränser. Västerbottens Folkblad (Swedish). Retrieved on November 5, 2006.
- ^ a b Bowar, Chad. About.com. About.com. Retrieved on August 25, 2006.
- ^ a b c Lozano, Francisco. Erik Olofsson interview. http://www.metalstorm.ee. Retrieved on August 25, 2006.
- ^ Batmaz, Murat. Somewhere Along the Highway review. http://www.seaoftranquility.org/. Retrieved on October 22, 2006.
- ^ Lozano, Francisco. Somewhere Along the Highway review. http://www.metalstorm.ee/. Retrieved on August 26, 2006.
- ^ Mittelstadt, Brent. Somewhere Along the Highway review. http://www.digitalmetal.com/. Retrieved on August 26, 2006.
